Treasure Island: Volume 1883

Treasure Island, published in 1883, popularized the now familiar characters of pirates and brought them to rum-swilling life. When an old sailor named Billy Bones dies in the inn belonging to young Jim Hawkins’s parents, he leaves a greasy old map on which an “X” marks the spot where treasure is buried. Jim joins the crew of a ship in pursuit of Bones’s treasure, and on the seas meets up with Long John Silver, a peg-legged pirate who has infiltrated their ranks. Jim must survive mutinies and counter-mutinies, face hand-to-hand combat with drunken sailors, and outwit double-crossing thieves before the treasure can be his.

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About the author

Born in Edinburgh in 1850, Robert Louis Stevenson remains one of English literature’s most translated authors, thanks to his relentless pacing and vividly realized characters. His tales of adventure helped define the genre, and introduced a level of nuance to children’s literature along with a rare and unique wit. Stevenson’s life was as colorful as his stories. He travelled extensively in Europe, the United States, and the South Seas, where he died in Samoa in 1894.

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